Vengeance
by Naz Delphiki
Summary: This is not your older brother's Mario story. No more smiling clouds, extra lives, or mere bruises as wounds. The rules have changed. The Mushroom Kingdom is not the place it used to be. And only one former servant can make things right again.
1. Evil Strikes

"_Things have gone too far. This is the only way to put a stop to all the madness."_

"_Are you sure about this? There's no telling how this will change the kingdom we live in."_

"_It's a chance we have to take. Nobody can be trusted with the kind of power that is out there. Like I said, this is the only way."_

"Brother! We have a letter from the princess!" Luigi scrambled inside the small wooden home he shared with his older brother, almost tripping over a rug as he slammed the door behind him shut.

"Mamma mia Luigi, calm down and open it before you hurt yourself." Mario looked up from his Toad Times newspaper to his breathless brother.

"Princess Peach says that Princess Daisy is coming to the Mushroom Kingdom to celebrate her birthday, and that we should come to the party as a surprise! It sounds like a great time brother!"

"She's throwing a party for Daisy? It sounds like it could be fun, sure." Mario said with a slight hint of sarcasm. It was hard for him to get excited over such a thing, because all of Peach's parties were either incredibly dull or ended in Koopa-related disaster.

"It also says here that the finest chefs in Toad Town will be providing catered meals." Luigi added. Mario's sudden improvement in posture showed that he had found a reason to be excited over this.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get to the castle!" Mario quickly stood up and straightened his red outfit before promptly marching out the door, followed by his slightly amused brother wearing his traditional green matching outfit.

Upon arriving at the serene town square where the party was being held, Mario wasted no time in finding the food stand serving spaghetti to the party guests and rushing right over to it with hunger in his eyes. Luigi just rolled his eyes at his gluttonous brother and started to look around for the guest of honor.

There were hundreds of guests at this party, most of them similarly dressed toads who lived in the town, although there were also some friendly goombas from neighboring towns. Luigi did not recognize any of them, but at such a large gathering it was hard for anyone to see a friendly face. After wandering for a few minutes he finally noticed two tall and feminine figures off in the distance near a fountain and began making his way toward them. One accidentally knocked down toad and two near falling over incidents later, he was face to face with the two princesses.

"Your majesties, it's so wonderful to see you," he stuttered while removing his green cap and bowing.

The brunette princess giggled slightly as she turned around. "Luigi, you don't have to bow to me, you are my friend, not a subject."

"I just wanted to be polite Princess Daisy," Luigi stammered, while turning slightly pink in the face. "Happy birthday as well, I'm happy to see you on such a fun occasion."

Daisy thanked him as Peach, the blonde princess, finally noticed and greeted him. After engaging in some small talk Mario finally approached with spaghetti stains already on his overalls. The two princesses giggled upon seeing him while Luigi just shook his head in embarrassment. The two obviously had different perspectives on the proper manners while in the presence of royalty.

As the four friends stood slightly away from the crowd catching up, a short toad dressed in the same blue vest as all the other toads waddled up to the group with a more feminine looking toad dressed in all pink.

"Hey!" the short toad said, waving at the group excitedly. "Mario, Luigi, Daisy! It's so good to see you all! It's been forever!"

"Toad!" Daisy exclaimed, picking up the little guy and wrapping her arms around him as she did so. She finally set him down and looked toward the toad with a pink outfit and pigtails, and then back at Toad. "Oh my, is this a friend of yours?"

Toad, after dusting off his vest and white shorts replied. "This is my fiancé Toadette!" He motioned toward her with a huge grin on his face.

"Pleased to meet you all!" Toadette said, bowing slightly.

"Fiancé?" Mario exclaimed, "You little devil you! You didn't tell me you were getting married!"

Toad's grin just grew larger. "Princess Peach, is there anything I can help you with today? As always, I am at your service!"

"No, you and your friend go have fun Toad. You two deserve to have a day of fun together, I often work you too hard." Peach smiled and waved the two off as they grabbed each other's hands and walked off into the crowd of their neighbors who looked almost identical to them.

The day wore on and more guests showed up to the party, completely filling up the large town square of Toad Town. The princesses and plumbers held steady conversation the whole time, catching up on current events, enjoying refreshments, and reliving old stories from days of old. All was going well, until some unfamiliar faces began filtering into the crowd.

At first there were just a couple odd faces. They vaguely resembled koopas, but the cloaks they wore hid their faces enough to make it hard to tell. Besides, they weren't causing any trouble and that was uncharacteristic of their kind. More and more continued to filter in from the town gates and alleys near the town square, until it was hard to look in any direction without seeing an unfamiliar face slightly covered by a cloak. Mario and Luigi were starting to take notice of this and were really on alert when they noticed shadows appearing on the outskirts of the town, but by then it was too late.

With a boom that deafened the whole crowd and a flash that blinded it, the scene had changed for the worse. The cloaked figures in the crowd had revealed themselves to be koopas, including but not limited to Bowser's eight children and top henchmen. The shadows that had been surrounding the town also moved in, revealing themselves to be armored koopa troopers wielding long steel spears. To make matters even more disastrous a large fire had erupted very near where Mario and company had been conversing, already engulfing some of the innocent toads in flame. The citizens and guests wanted to escape, but the armored koopas were having none of that, as they had formed an impenetrable barrier around the perimeter of the town.

The two plumbers and princesses had been knocked to the ground by the explosion, and the plumbers slowly rose from the ground and then each extended a hand to the fallen princesses until they all were standing again. The princesses tried to dust off their dresses and the Mario brothers looked around for a sign of who was behind this sudden attack, but they both already knew who they were looking for.

From inside the ball of flame stepped a muscular, vicious dinosaur. Bowser, king of the koopas, had arrived on the scene. He was standing near the four VIPs in attendance and cackled with a deep roar as he shadowed them. They all just glared up at him, the two plumbers slowly moving to protect the princesses as he laughed.

"Mario! Luigi! So good to see you both!" Bowser bellowed, quieting down his laugh.

The whole town square full of guests had managed to form a circle around the center of the area, while still honoring the border formed by armored koopa. This left the plumbers, the princesses, and Bowser in the middle, their eyes all locked on their respective foes.

"What do you think you're doing ruining my party?" Daisy screamed at him, obviously the bolder of the two princesses. "You'll never get away with this! You never do!" She spat toward him with her last words.

Bowser looked down at the small bit of saliva then back up at Daisy, and let out a horrifying roar directly toward her face, causing her to cower behind Luigi.

"She's right," Mario said defiantly, stepping forward, "you won't get away with this. I don't know what you have planned this time, but no matter what it is I will make sure I put an end to whatever you're doing."

Bowser began to lightly chuckle and slowly moved back up toward roaring laughter. "Whatever you say Mario! Why don't you show me what you got?" The dinosaur crouched down slightly and extended his claws.

Mario and Luigi both looked at each other and nodded as they crouched down and extended their hands forward, gathering red and green flame around their respective hands. Taking a hint, the two princesses retreated to the edge of the circular crowd and intently watched the battle about to take place.

In an instant Bowser had lunged forward at the plumbers swinging his claws wildly, hoping to connect with one of them. In response, both plumbers jumped to opposite ways and simultaneously launched the gathered up fire energy from their hands to Bowser's sides in the form of flaming spheres. Both hit the dinosaur at once and caused him to fall to the ground almost instantly. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Mario grabbed Bowser by his tail and threw him a few feet away, where Luigi launched another fireball right at the beast's face.

Bowser cried with pain as the flames subsided, and managed to pull himself to his feet as the plumbers readied their next attacks. For the quick beating he had just taken, he still came across as quite composed.

The crowd was already cheering at the turn of events when Mario said to the massive koopa, "Like I said, you aren't going to succeed."

Surprisingly, Bowser began to laugh again. After a few moments of that, he calmed down and stared down at Mario and Luigi again. "Well, I have a surprise for you my plumber nemeses." Bowser then reached into his shell and pulled out a shimmering red sphere that looked as though it were made of some sort of glass. Red swirls swam wildly around inside of it as Bowser held it above his head.

"What is that supposed to be?" Mario asked, addressing the question everyone was thinking.

"This, my plumber friend, is what has stopped me from completely putting an end to you all these years. And in a few seconds, it will no longer be an obstacle."

Everyone in the crowd gave each other the same confused looks and mutters as Bowser drilled the sphere into the cement ground, causing it to shatter into a million pieces. And in that instant, a wave of intense dizziness spread across the crowd.

All of a sudden, everything was different.

It wasn't that anything looked different, because it didn't. But in that instant, everyone had a more heightened awareness of things. The fear in everyone's faces was visible for the first time. The heavy breathing and meek screams of horror were audible. Everyone from the toads to the koopas felt heavier but more fragile at the same time. The scent and taste of fire was in the air, and along with it the putrid smell of the koopas and burning toads hung in the air. Everyone could feel the difference, but none could say what exactly the difference was.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Bowser launched an immediate offensive on the Mario brothers. After taking in a deep breath, he launched a massive fireball from his throat straight to Mario's chest, knocking the plumber into the surrounding crowd and leaving black marks and little flames all across his torso. All heads turned to the now downed plumber, who lay motionless across the ground. He would be of no more assistance in this fight.

As everyone focused on the red plumber, Bowser tried to launch another surprise attack on his brother. Luckily, Luigi noticed and jumped out of the way just before Bowser's claws would have made direct contact with his stomach. He did not dodge the attack completely though, as the claws grazed his side and tore his shirt some. With that, however, came a spray of red liquid and a pain sensation Luigi had never felt before.

He looked down surprised at his new wound, wondering what had just happened. The red substance was completely unfamiliar and it kept coming out of him. Suddenly he began to feel a little weaker than normal and could not explain why. This sensation was far different than the bruising feeling he usually felt when attacked, and it almost certainly had something to do with that smashed orb.

Luigi didn't have time to ponder over it however; Bowser launched another offensive that had to be dodged. The plumber tried to gather up enough energy for a fireball attack again, but couldn't focus enough while trying to simultaneously dodge slashes and breaths of fire.

Just as Bowser's fatigue was starting to catch up with him a bit and Luigi's chance for a counter-attack was about to come up, the clumsy plumber tripped on his own legging and fell to the ground with a thud. Bowser wasted no time in grabbing the tall and lanky man by the throat and holding him up in the air. The crowd was breathless as they watched Bowser's claws sink into the plumber's neck and more of the red substance drip down.

"You have always been a nuisance, but never the main source of my worst troubles," the koopa king grumbled in a softer than normal voice. "For that reason, I will not torture you as I plan to torture your brother. Yes, I will let you off easily."

The crowd could be seen relaxing some as Bowser loosened his grip on Luigi's neck. But as quickly as he let go of the man's neck he had thrust his other arm forward, all the way through the plumber's torso, the now lifeless plumber hanging on the arm sticking through him.

There were several gasps and screams throughout the crowd. Both princesses began to cry hysterically. Peach fell to her knees but couldn't take her eyes off the horribly gruesome scene. Daisy, in the midst of her hysteria, ran toward Bowser with murder in her eyes but was backhanded by the beast and knocked out cold before she could do any damage.

Aside from some sobbing the crowd had fallen silent and was frozen by fear by what they had just seen. Bowser withdrew his claw from the fallen plumber and let the body collapse to the ground, Luigi's lifeless eyes staring up toward the sky. He paused for a moment, then looked up toward the sky himself and let out his loudest roar yet. With one motion of his arm he summoned an airship that had been concealed behind Peach's castle and grabbed a rope that was quickly extended down to him.

As he ascended by rope he shouted out some orders to his followers. "Morton, Roy! Grab the princesses and take them up to the airship! Larry, grab Mario and bring him up to his special little chamber on the ship! Junior, you and the troopers know what to do next! The rest of you, 

come with me." And after a very quick blow to the head to Princess Peach, Bowser, three prisoners, and his underlings were up on his airship sailing away from the ravaged Toad Town.

All that remained there were several scared toads, many armored koopa troopers, Bowser Jr., and the lifeless body of a once renowned hero.

Bowser Jr. stepped forward and let out a cackle similar to his father's.

"Well now my little toad friends, it's time we had some fun."


	2. The End of an Era

A disturbing silence had set in among all of the toads left in the plaza of Toad Town. All that could be heard were the soft breaths of its horrified citizens and the clanking of armor as the koopa troopers moved in on the helpless crowd. They all slid in closer together with now drawn spears at their necks, closing the empty circle where Luigi's death had been witnessed just moments earlier.

"So now," Bowser Jr. finally announced, breaking the eerie silence, "my father has given me some orders. For some of you this is good news, for others it's not so fun. Father told me that he wanted Mario and anyone who had ever helped him eliminated for good." The baby dinosaur paused and took a few steps until he was standing on Luigi's lifeless body, intentionally disrespecting the fallen hero.

From out in the crowd, one toad winced and stepped slightly forward with disgust on his face at the little beast's irreverence.

"Now, lucky for most of you," he continued, "the lot of you have been all but worthless in all of Mario's so called heroic quests to stop my father. But one of you, while never truly causing a difference, has always been a nuisance. Toad, loyal aid to Peach, it's time to show yourself!"

All in the crowd began to shift their eyes and turn heads to look among each other, not sure if they should call out their friend and representative or wait and see what Junior would do if they did not. Toads were normally very loyal creatures, but they were feeling the fear of death for the very first time in these extremely dangerous conditions.

Junior paused for several moments before realizing that none of the defenseless toads were going to speak up. "Fine, have it your way. Number twelve! Carry out the backup plan."

A look of confusion spread across the crowd while one of the armored koopas stepped forward and approached one of the random citizens with his spear drawn. Without a second thought he slashed the spear across the back of the unsuspecting citizen, causing more of the red substance to spray on the nearby citizens and making this citizen fall to the ground in a lifeless heap.

There were screams heard and the toads with red liquid on them fell to the ground as they scurried away and tried to brush it off of themselves, only smearing it. Despite this small bit of chaos, still none of the toads spoke up about which one Toad was. They could all tell because they noticed subtle hints in each other's facial structures. Bowser Jr. was far from a friend and could only tell the females from the males.

"Still no takers? Have it your way Toad! Number twelve, again!"

Before anybody had time to react, the murderous soldier again took his spear and this time drove it into the stomach of another Toad Town citizen, causing the innocent toad's eyes to roll back into his head as the spear was withdrawn. The crowd erupted into a panic that was quickly calmed by all of the armored troopers pointing their spears inward at the crowd and Junior's call for silence.

Toad couldn't take anymore of this. Even if it meant his life, he couldn't stand back and watch as his fellow citizens were slaughtered one by one. "It's me!" he shouted from within the crowd, emerging as he did so. "I'm the one you're looking for you scum."

Junior snapped his fingers and Toad's arms were seized by two of the armored koopas and a third pressed a spear against the martyr's back. They then brought him toward the middle of the plaza again, so close that Junior could breath his rotten breath in the little toad's face.

"Not such a wimp after all. It only took two of your friends dying before you stepped forward. I expected better of you, but it's no surprise you're a disappointment just like father said." Junior grinned and drove the claws of one of his feet into the side of Luigi's already pale face.

Toad's eyes widened and he struggled to free himself from the grip held by the two soldiers, but was unsuccessful. With never before seen hatred in his eyes, Toad toned down his struggle slightly as he glared at the small dinosaur.

"Now, father said I just had to eliminate you, but he didn't say I couldn't have some fun first. And I promise I'll have some fun first." With that, Junior swung his arm forward and connected with Toad's jaw, knocking his face to the side and leaving him quite sore instantly.

All the crowd could do was watch in horror as another one of their idols was put to shame in front of them.

One of the members of the crowd, however, couldn't just stand by and watch this terrible scene unfold. Toadette screamed and ran forward toward Bowser Jr. with her arms flailing and pink dress waving in the wind, trying to surprise the beast.

Toad tried to call out to tell her to stop but it was too late, as Junior quickly spun around and grabbed the tiny toad female by one of her pigtails and pulled her up into the air.

"What do we have here?" Bowser amusingly asked, looking from Toadette back to Toad. "Toad you look awfully upset that I have this one by her cute hair."

Indeed, Toad had murder in his eyes to an even greater extent than before.

A wave of realization swept over Junior's face. "Is this a special friend of yours?" he asked, grinning even wider as Toad struggled to get free again. "Oh my, this could be even more fun than I thought." Junior stared at the helpless female toad as she tried to get free, and touched his free hand to the side of her face, freezing her with fear. He then ran the hand from her cheek down to her thigh, over to the other leg, and back up again.

Toad was wild with anger by this point and tried stomping on his captors' feet, spitting up at their faces, and screaming bloody murder all to no avail. Junior was enjoying seeing the toad struggle, and the citizens all stood by as helpless as ever. After a few more moments of violating the young Toadette, Junior's short attention span caught up with him.

A helpless Toad watched in horror as Junior bore his claws and slashed them across Toadette's neck, drawing more of the red liquid out of her neck and leaving her struggling for breath for a few moments before finally ceasing movement and breathing. Junior snickered and dropped her to the ground and turned toward Toad, who was now taking deep breaths and had a face filled with bloodlust for this dinosaur and his counterparts.

"Okay, enough fun." Junior nodded at the soldier behind Toad and the armored koopa drove his spear through Toad's torso, causing the furious toad to helplessly fall to his knees.

As he faded out of consciousness, he saw Junior's last orders get carried out.

"Kill them all," the dinosaur ordered before summoning a miniature airship to bring himself to the larger one that had already left the area.

"But you said," stammered one of the frightened toad citizens, looking around in fear.

"Does it look like I'm a koopa of my word?" And with those words Junior took off.

As he slipped into darkness, Toad saw all of the armored koopas thrusting and swinging their spears, more of the red liquid spraying all over, and his closest friends falling to the heartless koopa militia. He looked over one last time at the lifeless bodies of Luigi and Toadette, one of his best friends and the love of his life, and fell to the ground. After that, all was black.


	3. Clean Up Duty

"_Oh Toad, I can't believe how pretty it is here, I never thought I'd see Peach's garden up close like this."_

"_What can I say? I know people." Toad smirked and squeezed Toadette's hand as she flashed a warm smile at him. "Besides, if the princess tried to stop me, I'd show her who the real boss is!" He jokingly flexed, causing Toadette to let out one of her cute giggles._

"_Toad, honey, you wouldn't hurt a goomba!"_

_Toad frowned, and looked at Toadette with a bit of hurt in his face. He was joking about harming the princess, but he would not hesitate to stand up for his loved ones if he had to. "I would stomp a thousand goombas for you Toadette." _

_Toadette's smile grew even wider, and she rested her head on Toad's shoulder to hide the fact she was blushing. "I know you'd never let anything happen to me Toad. I love you."_

"_I love you too, Toadette." _

The only audible sounds were screams and laughter. As Toad slowly forced his heavy eyes open, it was easy to tell which sounds were coming from where. There weren't as many armored koopas as he remembered, but at least two still remained, making their way around the piles of motionless toads around him. Every time they walked by someone who was still moving or pleading for help they drove their spears into the helpless toads' skulls. It hurt to watch this unfold, but it hurt even more when he tried to move at all himself. He looked down at his stomach and winced. Most of his blue vest and white pants had been stained red, all originating from the painful hole through his midsection.

Fatigue and nausea overwhelmed him, and he felt weaker than he ever had before. Is that what dying was like? Was he dying? The thought terrified him so he quickly shook it and tried to focus on staying awake. The armored koopas were getting closer, but luckily still hadn't noticed he was still alive. Junior must have felt pretty convinced that the first spear had taken care of him. Toad momentarily felt pangs of anger at how often he was underestimated but quickly decided he didn't have time to contemplate that.

He rolled his head to the other side and jumped a bit at what he saw, irritating his stomach injury. Luigi's wide open, red eyes stared back at him from less than a foot away. If Toad was dying, then Luigi must be dead. Him, maybe Mario, and Toadette...

Toad tried not to think of her. He managed to roll to his side further from his injury and reached into one of Luigi's front pockets. He didn't like disrespecting the body of his fallen friend, but if he didn't act quickly he would be dead too and there would be nobody to spread the word of what happened to Mario and the princesses. Just as he thought, Luigi carried a small brown bag with some items inside. Toad poured the contents on the ground next to him.

Four power flowers and three mushrooms spilled out. Toad felt something else in the bag. He shook it more vigorously and half of a green mushroom spilled out, lifting his spiritis immediately. The Seven Stars finally decided to throw him a bone. He thought momentarily about trying to find Toadette and giving it to her, but the harsh reality dawned on him that she would not be able to eat it anyway. Though it was a bit of a struggle, he lifted the green mushroom bit to his mouth and started to chew on it with as much force as he could muster. He swallowed, and looked down at his stomach wound. It miraculously seemed to mend itself, as the red and painful portion slowly disappeared until light pink flesh covered the area completely again. Feeling his strength starting to come back to him, he reached out and poked at the area where the gaping wound just was. It was a bit sore, but appeared to have completely healed.

"What's that? Do we have a live one over there?"

Toad froze. One of the armored koopas must have seen him. He hoped that he was wrong and it had been someone else, but the loud sound of armor clanking together grew louder and louder with each step. If he didn't act quickly, eating that green mushroom would have been a waste and he would be as dead as the others soon.

There were spears lying near him, but he didn't even know if he could lift one in his condition, yet alone wield it in a fight. He looked at the pile of power ups next to him. Aside from trying a half mushroom once and bulking up for a few hours he had never had any sort of power up.

"Holy shit Koopolio, I think it's THE Toad! Oh man Junior's gonna take me off cleanup duty if he knows I finished this little bastard off!"

The armored koopa began walking toward Toad even quicker, eager to drive another spear into him. It looked like Toad had no choice. Knowing he was running out of time to act, he shoveled up all of the power ups from Luigi's bag and stuffed them in his mouth. He chewed as quickly as he could and hurt his throat forcing them down before they were fully masticated.

He looked up and saw the armored koopa staring back at him. His eyes were open wide as if he were paralyzed by fear. He must have seen Toad eating all of those power ups.

Mario always told Toad that power ups had to be used carefully and that if anyone tried to take more than one at a time it would make them extremely sick. Toad couldn't tell if it was all the power ups he had just eaten or the fact that an armored koopa murderer was staring at him from just a couple feet away, but he definitely felt very ill. He felt like his stomach was on fire and it was spreading through his whole body

The koopa muttered something under his breath and quickly raised his spear in the air, preparing to drive it through Toad and probably finish him for good this time. Toad let out a small burp and the koopa began thrusting his spear downward.

The burp was immediately followed by a profusion of fire spilling from his throat with more force than any vomit he had ever experienced. It burned a bit at first, but when Toad realized it wasn't hurting him, he gave way to nature and let it all out. After a few seconds the urge went away and he relaxed. Sweat trickled down his forehead and he was a bit shaky, but he felt strong enough rise to his feet. He wiped the sweat away and assessed the damage. Not only was the armored koopa in front of him completely torched black, it looked like all of the flesh on his face had been burned away, leaving just a charred skeletal face covered by a melted helmet.

'I guess that's why they said to never take more than one,' Toad thought to himself. The rancid smell of burnt flesh overwhelmed him and he took a few steps back. He almost tripped, as he wasn't used to being as tall as he was. He looked himself over and noticed he was as tall as the princess and as muscular as one of Bowser's children. He no longer felt the need to vomit, but could feel a warmth coursing through his body. It seemed most focused in his hands, which seemed to be on the verge of orgasm if he flexed them at all.

In his moments of awe at his new body and sensations, Toad hadn't taken a good look at the armored koopas remaining around him. There appeared to be six of them left in the now morbid scene that was Toad Square. They each had obviously seen how Toad stopped their comrade, and they were probably questioning if they wanted to try to take him on and risk the same fate. Toad had to admit, he kind of liked seeing fear in the enemy's eyes for once when they looked at him. He wasn't exactly sure what he was doing, but he knew he felt strong and he knew that he was going to make these lackeys pay on behalf of all of his fallen brothers. He wasn't sure if it was the pain of loss over his friends and love, or the power ups coursing through his veins, but he felt not only powerful, but infuriated beyond his control.

One armored koopa was braver than the rest, and began charging at Toad with his spear drawn. "Let's get him boys! Praise Bowser!" The others were slightly hesitant, but quickly rallied and joined him in his charge.

Toad ran toward the koopa he had just torched and picked up the spear he had almost been killed with moments before. Maybe it was just the mushrooms, but it was lighter than he expected. Raising it above his head, he took aim and flung it forward toward the closest koopa's face. His aim was a bit off, and the spear glanced off the koopa's breastplate and bounced to the ground. The charging koopa used both hands to raise the spear above and behind his head, and jumped over a small pile of lifeless toads en route to Toad, who immediately raised his hands in defense.

A very large fireball shot from Toad's hands and hit the koopa square in the chest, sending him flipping backwards through the air. Impressed with himself, Toad turned to see another koopa closing in on him. He picked up the spear his foe had dropped before getting blasted and let the heat from his hand warm it rapidly. When his foe was close and the spear he held was glowing red hot, Toad held it to his side, waited, and then swiped the sharp end from one side of the enemy's torso to the other. Just as he expected, the added heat helped slice right through this one's armor, causing him to stagger a few steps before collapsing to the ground with a loud thud.

He had never experienced a battle before or been in any sort of fight, but Toad was relishing every moment of this. He never thought himself to be the violent type, but Bowser, Junior, and these koopas had taken everything from him, and they were going to pay.

Focusing on what appeared to be the next closest koopa around fifty yards away, Toad shot a string of fireballs in that general direction, catching the koopa in the leg once and tripping him to the ground. He turned around to look for more koopas, but instead saw a spear flying directly at his face. He tried to move his face out of the way, but the spear still managed to catch the side of his cheek and cut it wide open. It stung, and red liquid sprayed from the laceration. This caused Toad to fall slightly off balance, and he barely had time to move out of the way of a thrusting spear from another koopa just feet away. It caught his arm, giving him another injury. A third koopa ran up and rose his armored foot in the air, smashing it into Toad's chest and knocking him back at least a few yards through the air, causing him to fall backward onto the hard pavement below.

The three koopas that had just launched that onslaught closed in on him, showing more cocky excitement on their faces now than fear. They had Toad right where the wanted him, and this very well could be the end. He spat up some thick, red saliva and that's when he saw her. A few yards away Toadette lay lifelessly, staring up at the sky with wide open eyes, looking as angelic as ever. A tear almost came to Toad's eye as he remembered all the promises he made her about keeping her safe. He had failed her. Not only her, but the princess and the whole kingdom.

He felt a spear press against his chest. "Stand up," commanded one of the koopas. Toad did as he was told. The koopas apparently wanted to revel in their kill. He looked at each of them. One still had a bit of fear in his eyes, but the others looked like they had Toad right where they wanted him, like they knew they had won. "Time for you to die little toad. And this time you don't have your girlfriend here to save you. Not that she helped much last time before Junior shut that bitch up." The koopas all laughed heartily.

Toad thought about how Toadette had tried to save him, when she didn't even have to. How Junior cut her open without any regard for her innocence in the matter. Her beautiful body falling helplessly to the ground below. And now these koopas were laughing about it before they did the same to him. He could feel the warmth in his body starting to boil over. It felt as though his whole body was on fire, but all he could think about was the deep hatred he felt toward these koopas. He had never been this angry in his life. All he could think about was making these koopas pay for their crimes against his people. The anger continued to swell as he stood there with the spear to his chest, and it started to feel like he was actually on fire.

"What the hell?" One of the armored koopas looked down at his spear, which had started to melt. He yelped in pain and quickly dropped it, taking a few steps back from Toad. The fear had returned to his eyes.

Toad had become completely engulfed in flames, as if his body were radiating power flower fire. The armored koopas all began to sweat and feel their armor starting to melt and they tried to run away, but it was too late. Without even thinking about it, Toad unleashed four pillars of fire in their respective directions, hitting each one spot on. His eyes went white, and all he could feel was the release of uncontrollable energy from his body. The pillars continued to engulf the koopas for at least half of a minute, until finally Toad cooled off and felt himself returning to normal. He wasn't sure what just happened, but the results were obvious. Four piles of ash remained where the remaining koopas had been with no trace of their bodies or armor to be found.

Toad felt weak again, but not from injuries this time. A wave of dizziness swept over him and he all of a sudden found it very difficult to stand. He was tired, uncontrollably so. He hoped that after surviving all of that he wasn't about to die from a power up overdose, but he couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of such a thing. He felt lightheaded, and the next thing he knew he had lost consciousness again.


End file.
